Sheer warp knit garment and method for making same

ABSTRACT

Continuous, back-to-back tubular undergarments, having sheer, lock-stitched body portions and spaced, reinforced toe, heel, welt, or panty portions, are produced on a double-needle-bar Raschel knitting machine having at least 12 guide bars. The basic body knit is chain-stitched wales of one strand, the wales being connected by zig-zag stitches of another strand. The chain stitches are converted to a jersey 2-0, 2-4 stitch in the reinforced area so that no guide bar must move more than one needle space to form the garment.

United States Patent [151 3,685,319

Jackson [451 Aug. 22, 1972 r [54] SHEER WARP KNIT GARMENT AND OTHERPUBLICATIONS METHOD FOR MAKING SAME Publication, The Hosiery TradeJournal" Raschel [72] lnventor: George E. Jackson, 702 Colony Dr., mlTig 1967. PP-

Charleston, W. Va. 25314 117 [22] Filed: 1970 Primary Examiner-RonaldFeldbaum [21] Appl. No; 93,126 AttorneyPearson & Pearson [57] ABSTRACT[52] U.s. Cl ..66/87 R, 66/l7676;2{9656,/61;/6u}312 Continuous,backwback tubular undergarments,

having sheer, lock-stitched body portions and spaced, l 51 Int. (J...D04b 23/02 reinforced toe, heel welt or panty portions are Fied ofSearch 95, produced on a double needle bar 6 5, 132 machine having atleast 12 guide bars. The basic body knit is chain-stitched wales of onestrand, the wales [56] References Cit d being connected by zig-zagstitches of another strand. The chain stitches are converted to a jersey2-0, 2-4 UNITED STATES PATENTS stitch in the reinforced area so that noguide bar must 3,429,147 2/1969 Perrier ..66/l95 move more needle Space3,564,876 2/1971 Titone ..66/177 ment' 3,566,619 3/1971 Jinone ..66/l775 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures F EE PATENTEDAHB IBTZ 3.685.319 SHEET 1 0F 225 -2 41 23 24 22 l T I; 40 q 4 T u u J GUIDE SET OUT FOR PANTY HOSEGUIDE BARS LEG LEG 12 CHA|N\37 o o o o o o o o o o o c o o o o I]JERSEY/ o o o o o o o o o o e o 0 10 RT. SEL. X 9 ZIG-ZAG/36 o o o o o oo o o o o o o o o .o o o o o o o o o o o 8 LFT. SEL. X 33 24 7INSIDESEL. I X 6 INSIDESEL. X

5 RT. SEL. 32 23 4 2|G-ZAG36 o o o o o \\o o J o o o o o c o o o o o o oo o o o o 3 LFT SEL. X 30 2 JERSEY o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o ICHA|N 0 o o c o o a o o o o 0 LEFT 31 RIGHT 47 PANTY 46 SELVEDGE CENTERSELVEDGE X=CONNECTOR STRANDS I 48-49 INVENTOR.

Fl Z GEORGE E. JACKSON ATTORNE Y5 PATENTEU 3,585,319

SHEET 2 [1F 2 REINFORCING BASIC TUBE AREA STITCH STITCH INVENTOR. GEORGEE. JACKSON ATTORNE Y5 SHEER WARP KNIT GARMENT AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAMEBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the knitting art, it has long beencustomary to make flat goods on warp knitting machines and to maketubular, semi-finished garments on circular weft knitting machines. Warpknitting, with its multiplicity of warp yarns, one to a needle, hasproved most satisfactory in making flat, power net fabric for cuttinginto undergarment patterns. While multi-guide bar, two needle barRaschel machines can make continuous tubular goods, the adaption of suchmachines to producing sheer stockings, panty hose, or the like, has beengenerally unsuccessful to date.

A two-needle-bar, eight, or guide bar, warp knitting machine, isdisclosed in British Pat. Nos. 1,036,246, of Jan. 8, 1963, and 1,069,881of May 24, 1967, the machine being capable of producing tubular,ladder-proof, ladies sheer stockings with invisible lateral seamingjoining the two single fabrics made by the machine. Reference is made toan article entitled Hosiery and Panty Hose Developments on RaschelEquipment in the Nov. 25, 1968, issue of Knitted Outerwear Times,describing the state of the art and the equipment and product of theabove patents.

It is stated in the said article that present developments enable theproduction of string connected, or back-to-back, continuous, warp-knittubes on a ten guide bar Raschel machine, the leg, or panel, sectionbeing in reverse lock knit, the tube being stitch-shaped, the tubehaving reinforced sections for heel, foot bottom, and toe, and havinganother reinforced section to which a separately knitted welt is laterattached. The reverse lock knit of the panel, or leg, area requiresguide bar movement over two needle spaces, to produce a run-proofstocking.

In actual practice, despite the allegations in the said article, it isbelieved that prior to the invention herein, stockings made inaccordance with the article have been made on an eight guide bar,double-needle-bar machine, and the selvedge has been connectable only bybreaking off two needles at each selvedge. It will be understood thatRaschel needles are formed in a block, and, if one or more needles arebroken from the block, the needle bed can only be used for one productthereafter until the broken blocks are replaced. It is also pointed outthat, when shifts of more than one needle space are made, threeseparately controlled yarn guides are required to make each selvedge.While stockings with only two selvedges could be made with a 10 barmachine, using four bars for the knit and six for the selvedge, pantyhose with its four selvedges would require 16 guide bars, and no suchmachine is presently available.

To make panty hose on a 14 guide bar machine, it would be necessary tobreak off needles at the outer selvedges, and this is undesirable. Thesaid article thus does not teach the making of sheer, panty hose on the14 guide bar Fashionmaster machine mentioned, but simply recounts themany problems encountered including variation in individual end tension,the extensive guide bar swing, tearing of the crotch, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In this invention, the 14 guide bar,double-needle-bar Fashionmaster of the Cocker Machine & Foundry Companyof Gastonia, NO, or any other similar machine having at least 12 guidebars, can produce sheer, lock stitch, stockings, or panty hose, with theproblems enumerated in the said article completely overcome. This isaccomplished by avoiding the reverse locknit, and two-needle-spacemovement taught by the above prior art. Instead, two fine denier strandsare fed to each needle, the set of one such strands are looped back andforth between adjacent wales to tie in the adjacent pillars laterally,the set of the other such strands are chain stitched in the panel, orleg, areas, and then converted to a jersey 2-0, 2-4 loop structure inthe reinforced toe, foot bottom, heel and welt areas, and no guide barmoves two needle spaces in the knitted structure. In this manner, onlysix guide bars are needed to form the panel areas and reinforced areas,and only six more guide bars are required to make both the inside andoutside selvedges and the crotch of the panty hose.

The stitch shaping and crotch, leg formation of the sheer panty hose ofthis inventionis accomplished by the mechanism of the "Fashionmasterwhich is commercially available and is now used to make fish'net pantyhose, using 12 of the 14 guide bars. The gist of my invention is theconcept of a different stitch structure in the main body of the pantyhose, and in the reinforced areas, whereby stitch motions of only oneneedle space are required, and the machine can therefore produce sheer,stitch-shaped panty hose, rather than merely fish-net, unreinforcedpanty hose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic front view ofa Fashionmaster machine showing the pattern means, warp beam means, warpknitting means, and wind up means;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a double-needlebar, multiple guidebar Raschel knitting machine, showing the guide bar set out for thesheer panty hose of the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic view of string connected back-to-backsheer ladies stockings made in accordance with the invention and laidout flat before being cut and boarded into final stocking shape;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, showing string connected,stitch-shaped sheer panty hose made in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the basic panel, or body,stitch; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the reinforced area stitchused in the toe, foot bottom, heel welt or panty areas.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a typical, multipleguide bar, two-needle-bar, Raschel, warp knitting machine 20, such asthe above mentioned Fashionmaster or any equivalent commerciallyavailable machine having at least 10 guide bars. The machine 20 includesthe warp beam means 21, guide bar means 22, double needle bars 23 and24, chain type pattern means 25 and 26, and wind up roll means 27,whereby the machine can have a pattern set up to make warp knittedproducts of various types.

The warp beam means 21 is arranged to supply two strands 30 and 31,each, for example, of 15 denier Cantrece nylon, to each needle 32 and 33of the opposite pairs of needles on needle bars 23 and 24 in eachtransverse zone 34 of the machine 20 required to knit a panty widthtubular undergarment 35. This is'for the reason that rather than forminga single strand into both a wale-wise pillar and zig-zag, lateralconnector between pillars, in this invention, one set 36 of strandsforms the zig-zag lateral connector between wale-wise extending pillars,while the other set 37 of strands is forming either chain stitches orreinforcement jersey type stitches. I v

The 12 guide bars 1-12 of the machine are threaded as shown in FIG. 2for making the sheer panty hose of the invention. Guide bars 1, 2, 11and 12' are threaded with the strands 30, to constitute the other set 37of strands arranged to alternately form chain stitches in the panel, orbasic tube stitch, areas 40 of the garments or to form jersey knit 2-0,2-4 stitches in the toe area 41, foot bottom area 42, heel area 43, weltarea 44, or panty area 45 of the garments. As shown, guide bars andconnect the right outer selvedge 46, guide bars 3 and 8 connect the leftouter selvedge 47, and guide bars 6 and 7 connect the inside selvedges48 and 49 of the leg, or other limb, tubes. The connector strands aremarked X in the drawing, and form the crotch area 49 in a known manner.

In FIG. 5, the basic tube stitch of the invention is shown enlarged,each strand 30 associated with each needle 23 or 24, forming awalewise-extending pillar of run-proof, lock, chain stitches, such as51, 52 and 53,

and with each strand 31, associated with each needle 23 or 24, forming azig-zag stitch extending laterally back and forth as at54 and 55 betweeneach wale 51, 52 or 53, to tie in the chain stitched pillars. This basictube stitch presents a sheer stocking panel, lock stitch appearancebearing little resemblance to the fish-net stitch of prior art pantyhose, or to the two needle space stitch taught in the above mentionedBritish patents.

In FIG. 6, the reinforced area stitch of the invention is shownenlarged, this, like the basic stitch requiring no more than one needlespace motion by the guide bars and therefore being possible on a machineof the Fashionmaster type. As shown, the zig-zag stitches 54 and 55 ofstrand 31 are unchanged in this area, but the chain stitches, 51, 52, or53 of the strands 30 have been converted to the jersey knit 2-0, 2-4stitch shown at 56 and 57, so that the strands 30 and 31 cross eachgarment are shown in stylized form, lighter lines, in

view of the difficulty of showing the actualloop structure accurately onsmall scale.

In FIG. 4, a stitch shaped, string connected, back-toback panty hoseproduct of the invention is shown, enlarged over the showing in FIG. 1and with thebasic stitch areas designated 40, and the reinforced stitchareas designated 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45 in a manner similar to FIG. 3.

The two guide bars of the 14. guide bars of the Fashionmaster which arenot required may be used to insert filler yarns for design purposes, ifdesired.

A pattern chain layout by which the guide bars 1-12 are controllablyoperated by pattern chain means 25 and 26 to cause machine 20 to knitthe sheer panty hose product of the invention is set out below. Thelayout is stated as it would beread from the design pages, and does nottake into account that actual practice would require some chain links tobe transposed to a higher, or lower, value due to pushing the guide barsfrom the left side or the right side. Since the left and right drums ofthe right and left pattern means 25 or 26 can be reversed, the drums aredesignated as one drum and other drum.

PATTERN CHAIN SET OUT (Read chains left to right) NOTE The upper set ofnumbers, left to right, represents the motions for each guide bar tomake the tube.

The lower set of numbers, left to right, represents the motions for eachguide bar to make the panty section when both drums are shifted.

, When the one drum is shifted only the heel and toe is formed.

FRONT FRONT BACK BACK Guide Bar 1 20 00 02 22 One Drum Shift, 20 00 2422 Guide Bar 2 20 00 02 22 Other Drum Shift 20 00 24 22 Guide Bar 3 i 2000 02 22 Other Drum Shift 20 20 22 22 Guide Bar 4 24 22 20 22 Other DrumShift 24 22 20 22 A Guide Bar 5 02 02 00 00 Other Drum Shift 02 02 00 00Guide Bar 6 02 02 00 i 00 Other Drum Shift 24 22 20 22 Guide Bar 7 22 2220 20 Other Drum Shift 22 24 22 20 Guide Bar 8 22 22 20 20 Other DrumShift 22 22 20 20 Guide Bar 9 22 22 22 20 Other Drum Shift 22 24 22 20Guide Bar 10 02 22 20 00 Other Drum Shift 02 02 00 00 Guide Bar 11 02 2220 00 Other Drum Shift 20 22 24 00 Guide Bar 12 02 22 20 00 One DrumShift 20 22. 24 00 What is claimed is:

1. A method of warp knitting, hollow tubular undergarments of the sheerstocking, panty hose, type on a double needle bed Raschel knittingmachine, said method comprising the steps of feeding two strands, eachthrough a separate guide bar, to each needle of each zone of said doubleneedle beds selected to form a continuous string of said tubularundergarments,

operating one said guide bar relative to each said needle to form walesof chain stitches all around said tube and simultaneously operating theother said guide bar relative to its said needle to lap back and, forthbetween adjacent needles to interconnect said chain stitched wales,thereby forming a basic stitch in the limb portions of saidundergarments, and

controllably operating said one guide bar relative to each said needlein accordance with a predetermined pattern, to change from said chainstitch motion to a lapping motion back and forth between adjacentneedles for interconnecting and reinforcing the loops being lapped bysaid other guide bar in heel, toe, welt and any other reinforced areasof said undergarments.

2. A method for warp knitting sheer, undergarment tubes on a doubleneedle bed Raschel knitting machine which comprises the steps of:

feeding a first strand and a second strand to each needle of each tube,wales lapping the first strand of each said needle back and forthbetween said needle and the adjacent needle to interconnect the wales ofthe said garments from one end thereof to the other;

in body, or limb, portions of said garments, chain stitching the secondstrand of each said needle to form a run-proof lock stitch with the lapsof said first strand, and

in heel, toe, welt or other predetermined reinforced areas of saidgarments converting the chain stitch motions of the second strand ofeach needle into lapping motions, in a direction opposite to thedirection of the laps being formed by said first strand to reinforcesaid areas.

3. A method as specified in claim 2, wherein the lapping motion of saidfirst strand is of a 2-0, 2-4

single needle over-lap shog construction and the over-lapping motion ofsaid second strand, in said reinforcement areas is 2-4, 2-0 singleneedle overlap shog construction, whereby the limb portions of saidundergarments are of sheer, lock, chain-stitch structure and thereinforced areas are of reduced mesh size, increased steps of:

feeding two fine denier strands to each needle of each needle bed of atransverse zone of said machine required to warp knit a panty widthtube;

for each opposite pair of needles in said transverse zone, alternately,first operating two guide bars to form chain stitches of one strand oneach said needle, and then operating said two guide bars to alternatelyform jersey stitches of said one strand by moving one needle spacebetween needles; continuously operating two other guide bars to formzig-zag stitches by moving one needle space between adjacent needles totie in the chain stitches and the jersey stitches being made by thefirst named two guide bars, said chain stitch-zigzag stitch areasconstituting the body knit and said jersey-zig-zag stitch areasconstituting the reinforced toe, heel and welt areas of saidundergarment,

continuously operating four other guide bars to join the selvedge of theouter edges of the fabrics being formed on said needle beds, and

periodically operating two other guide bars to join the selvedge of theinner edges of the fabrics being so formed to form the crotch and limbtubes of said garment. 5. A method for producing sheer, run-proof, warpwarp knitting the main body of said garments homogeneously in a basicknitted structure having walewise extending chains of one set of strandstied in by zig-zag stitches of another set of strands, and

reinforcing predetermined areas of said basic knitted structure bytemporarily converting the chain stitches of said one set of strands tojersey stitches,

thereby forming heel, foot bottom, toe, or welt reinforced areas whileunderlapping or overlapping no more than one needle space in saidstructure.

1. A method of warp knitting, hollow tubular undergarments of the sheerstocking, panty hose, type on a double needle bed Raschel knittingmachine, said method comprising the steps of feeding two strands, eachthrough a separate guide bar, to each needle of each zone of said doubleneedle beds selected to form a continuous string of said tubularundergarments, operating one said guide bar relative to each said needleto form wales of chain stitches all around said tube and simultaneouslyoperating the other said guide bar relative to its said needle to lapback and forth between adjacent needles to interconnect said chainstitched wales, thereby forming a basic stitch in the limb portions ofsaid undergarments, and controllably operating said one guide barrelative to each said needle in accordance with a predetermined pattern,to change from said chain stitch motion to a lapping motion back andforth between adjacent needles for interconnecting and reinforcing theloops being lapped by said other guide bar in heel, toe, welt and anyother reinforced areas of said undergarments.
 2. A method for warpknitting sheer, undergarment tubes on a double needle bed Raschelknitting machine which comprises the steps of: feeding a first strandand a second strand to each needle of each tube, lapping the firststrand of each said needle back and forth between said needle and theadjacent needle to interconnect the wales of the said garments from oneend thereof to the other; in body, or limb, portions of said garments,chain stitching the second strand of each said needle to form arun-proof lock stitch with the laps of said first strand, and in heel,toe, welt or other predetermined reinforced areas of said garmentsconverting the chain stitch motions of the second strand of each needleinto lapping motions, in a direction opposite to the direction of thelaps being formed by said first strand to reinforce said areas.
 3. Amethod as specified in claim 2, wherein the lapping motion of said firststrand is of a 2-0, 2-4 single needle over-lap shog construction and theover-lapping motion of said second strand, in said reinforcement areasis 2-4, 2-0 single needle over-lap shog construction, whereby the limbportions of said undergarments are of sheer, lock, chain-stitchStructure and the reinforced areas are of reduced mesh size, increaseddensity and opacity, jersey knit structure.
 4. The method of warpknitting a sheer panty hose undergarment on a multiple guide bar, doubleneedle bed Raschel knitting machine, which method comprises the stepsof: feeding two fine denier strands to each needle of each needle bed ofa transverse zone of said machine required to warp knit a panty widthtube; for each opposite pair of needles in said transverse zone,alternately, first operating two guide bars to form chain stitches ofone strand on each said needle, and then operating said two guide barsto alternately form jersey stitches of said one strand by moving oneneedle space between needles; continuously operating two other guidebars to form zig-zag stitches by moving one needle space betweenadjacent needles to tie in the chain stitches and the jersey stitchesbeing made by the first named two guide bars, said chain stitch-zig-zagstitch areas constituting the body knit and said jersey-zig-zag stitchareas constituting the reinforced toe, heel and welt areas of saidundergarment, continuously operating four other guide bars to join theselvedge of the outer edges of the fabrics being formed on said needlebeds, and periodically operating two other guide bars to join theselvedge of the inner edges of the fabrics being so formed to form thecrotch and limb tubes of said garment.
 5. A method for producing sheer,run-proof, warp knitted, tubular, garments on a two needle bed warpknitting machine, which comprises the steps of: warp knitting the mainbody of said garments homogeneously in a basic knitted structure havingwalewise extending chains of one set of strands tied in by zig-zagstitches of another set of strands, and reinforcing predetermined areasof said basic knitted structure by temporarily converting the chainstitches of said one set of strands to jersey stitches, thereby formingheel, foot bottom, toe, or welt reinforced areas while underlapping oroverlapping no more than one needle space in said structure.